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w. A. HARVEY. RANCH 'CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS.

APPUCATION FILED FEB. 25, |918.

Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

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WILLIAM A. nAnvnr, joie sonANireN, rnNNsrLvANIA.

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Speciication of Letters Patent. Paigengd N0 16 1920.

Application filed February 25, 1918.- Serial No. 2i9,105

To all t0/tom t may concer/a: y Beit known that I, WILLIAM A. HARVEY,

a citizen of the United States, and resident` to connectors for electric conductors and Y more particularly to a branch electric conductors. y i

ln lighting systems itis often desirable to provide a droplight in some particular part of the rooin and as now practised the means for tapping the light from the supply circuit is generally accomplished by a connector for spliced joint which is soldered and wrapped with insulating` tapeto meet the requirements of the underwriters. Joints of this lrind besides being more or less diiiicult to malte never present a neat appearance. There are also other features which maire i undesirable to employ the present methods in connecting the droplight, and the present invention has for its object to overcome these conditions by providing a connector which will not only produce satisfactory results from a mechanical standpoint but which will also present a neat and pleasing appearance.` i n A. further object of the invention is to provide means'whereby the connector may be supported from the wall or ceiling along which the conductorextends, and to so construct this wall or ceiling supporting means that it may be done away with if its use is not required.

Further objects will appear upon reference to the accompanying drawing and the following detail description.

ln said drawing:

Figure l, is a side view of a conductor illustrating the application of the invention;

F ig. 2, is a side view of the connector with the cover removed;

lig. 3, is a sectional view of the connector;

Fig. ll, is a sectional view of the conductor on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5, is a cross section of the connector on the line 5 5 of Fig. Ll;

Fig. 6 is a cross section on the line 6--6 of Fig. 4;

F ig. 7, is a side view of the connector illustratingthe use of from supporting means; and

li'ig. 8', is adetail View of the plate which is employed in supporting the connector the wall or ceiling. eferring to the drawings in detail, a represents an electric conductor of a conventional type and from. which it is desirable to connect a branch or droplight cordsuch as 5.a in making the connection the con* ductor a will be severed and a portion of the fabric removed so that the insulation and confronting ends of the twin wires c and d may be manipulatedl to present the severed ends in a position whereby they may be attached to the connector. rllhe insulation and fabric of the droplight cord or conductor isalso removed at its attached end in order that the ends of thev wires may be manipulated to be attached to the connector.

rlfhe connector in its desiredform preferably comprises an oblong shaped insulating block 5, having a top piece (i, with an overhang such as at Y, and a cover 8, which is removably secured to the block 5 by means of the. small bolts 9 which are carried by the cover and pass through suitable openings in the blockV 5 which are made to receive them. The overhang 7 of the top 6 overlies the upper edges of the cover and provides a substantially dust and water proof joint. The block 5 is cut away to provide sutiicient room for attaching the ends of the respective wires to the binding posts, and in connecting the wires the loose of the twin wires contained in a are passed through the opening l() in each end of the block, from which point they are divided and pass through openings ll and l2 made to receive them at right angles to the openings l0 and on opposite sides of the axis thereof. After they have been passed through these openings ll and l2 they are again bent at right-angles to overlie the sides of the block and with their ends attached to suitable binding posts 13 and la. The binding posts i3 and lil are mounted on plates l5 provided on opposite sides of the block and with their ends received in openings in the block. The plates l5 are secured to the blocli by means of the small screws lo which are embedded in the block in staggered relation to each other so as not to have their confronting ends opposite each other.l

One important feature of the present inthe conductor ends c and d the wall or ceiling y lil@ vention resides in the manner by'which the ends of the wires and Z aresecured to their respective binding posts. yIn this instance it isV highly desirable that some means other than their attachmentto 'the 'bindiiigpost be lrelied on to secure them to the connec- 'tionfor theblock in orderto overcome the Vpossibility oftension Aon thanconductor a breaking them loose from the block. This is accomplished,'h owever, by meansofpresenting the ends of the Wires tothe binding posts insuch. a-way as'to cause agripping or biting effect tobe produced between the. ends of the wires and the openings which receivevthem. The eiect produced will be readilyv appreciated from Fig. 4 of the drawing. an Y additional jsafeguardto prevent .the ends ofthe wires frombecom- "'ingfloose` solderlmay `be employed, but if the lends of the lwires are.v properly pre@ sentedthrough" the openings in theV block as y proposedby the present invention it will vthrough the "block, but terminates below the not be necessaryto-use solder.

" T The dropl-i'ght cordvor conductor b Ais attach/ed to" the Connector in substantially the same manner as the severed ends of thecon- 'ductorfmthat is to say, the two ends of the lwires ve and f contained in the cord are presented through a vertical opening 17 in the bottom of theblock 5 provided intermediate its ends. AThe bottom( of the cover also has an opening 'registering with the opening 'lhis openingy 17v` does not extend ducedfbetween' the Wires e and fand the openings which receive them in this instance ras that produced with the ends o and d of vReiferringto lFig. 7

the wires contained in the conductor a. In practicethe block 5 and its cover may be made of any suitable Vinsulating material either molded or otherwise produced.

and the wall or ceiling attaching means, it is very often neces- 'sarytosupport the conductor aespecially il any number of branch connections are to be used on the same line. When this is necessary a plate 22 is provided of substantially the same dimensions as the top of the connectorrand yis provided with two openings 23,"made to receive the ends oi' the small bolts "9. A suitable wood screw 24; or the like isvemployedfto attach the connector to the wall or ceiling. The head of the screw is seated inthe countersunlr opening 25 and enables the head of the screw to lie flush withthe surface of the plate 22.

1. In a branch connector for electric conductors, an insulating block having openings'in its opposite ends, chambers in said block lying parallel to and spaced from said openings, a passage-way connecting` saidopenings and said chambers and lying at right angles to said openings, a circuit completing means mounted on said block, and means carried by the last-named means for attaching thereto the individual wires of a conductor.

2. In a branch connector, an insulating block having openings therein at its opposite ends and an opening therein intermediate its ends and lying at right angles to the first-named openings, chambers in said block flying parallel to and spaced from said openings, passage-ways connecting said chambers and said openings and lying at right angles to said openings, circuitl completing means carried by said block, and means for attaching thereto individual wires of a conductor.

The foregoing specification signed this 1th day of February, 1918.

WILLIAM A. HARVEY. 

